Valved piston



V. J. WATERS VALVED PISTON March 8, 1927.

Filed on. 1. 1925 Patented Mar. 8, 1927.

TATES marina VICTOR .r. "WATERS, OF SH-IDEER, oxnnnommnssmnon or ONE-THIRD mo :HENRY'S. fiancee, -01 -SHIDI1ER, OKLAHOMA.

This invention relates to i'mpro'i' ements in valved pistons -for fluid 'pump's, (ind speci-fica'll' to apiston construction for use in oil we ls. The invention is known in the practical art as a travelling valve.

In raising or pumping of liquids "including oil from deep wells, it-is usually found that sand and other gritty sediment 1 i's'raised along-with the fluid, and-difiiculty has'been experienced in jprotecting the pump piston from rapid wear 'du'e -to the cutting action of the --sand and grit which lodges between t-he fpisto'n and working barrel and in ashort time makes it necessary to renew the piston packing-elements, or to install "entirely new piston. i'I'n practice, various expedients -ha-ve been tried to roperly protect the iston particularly a ainst the cutting action of sand and among these may be unentioned the use of a brush-like arrangement carried by the piston which is intended to act as a rough mechanical filter to catch the sand and grit Al'soexpansive m'etallic piston rings have been used, but neither of these devices, to the best of my knowledge, has been effective to adequately protect the piston.

The object of my invention is to provide effective protection for the pump piston against the cutting action of sand and grit, to thereby prolong the useful life of the device and increase its efficiency.

Thedetails of the improved construction will be described in connection with the accompanying drawing which forms a part of this specification, and in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved travelling valve showing a preferred relative arrangement of the elements;

Fig. 2 is a part sectional view showing the details of the invention in the arrangement of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of another and optional relative arrangement of elements in which the protection against entranc of sand is located beneath the piston packing.

Referring first to ture comprises a series of superposed cuplike elements 1, which are supported and alined 011 a central tube 3, by the flanged sleeves 2. The cups 1, are preferably of leather, but other fibrous material or compositions may be used, and the number of cups employed may be varied depending on certain practical conditions such as depth of to the desired number,

Fig. 1, the plston struc-' we'll, etc. At "the lower end of the piston,

--'the bottom cup 'restson a washer which in 3, by a pin or rivet '6. 'In assembling this part of the device the cups 1, and sleeves 2 are placed upon the tube 3,'anda're pressed together and against the fixed stop '5, by adjusting the nuts 4-. Theseries of'cups constitute the piston and its "packing and are designed to fit closely within the working barrel which is not shown. It is to protect these cups from sand and grit which constitutes the princi pal =objectof my invention, and this is ac-- 'complished by laroperly'as'soc'iating with the otherelements of the *piston construction a particular type of expansion -packing which will now be described.

Surrounding the central tube 8, and *ex tending a substantial distance longitudinally thereof is a flexible fibrous packing section 7. This packing may be made tubular, or it may be formed by building up convolutions of a rope-like fibrous packing which is covered with an outer coating or protecting covering which serves to maintain the structure in tubular form. The packing is also preferably impregnated with a graphitic composition which improves its wearing properties by reducing friction and rendering the packing impervious to watery solutions.

The packing section 7, is supported at one end, the lower end in Figs. 1 and 2, in a counter-bored recess in the upper end of the fitting 5; and at its opposite end is retained within a similar cup-like recess in the lower end of the movable sleeve 8. The latter element is supported to slide freely on the tube 3, and is pressed against the packing 7, by the force of a compression spring 9. It will be seen, therefore, that the packing 7, is held between a fixed and sliding abutment and is at all times subjected to a compression force which tends to reduce its length and to increase its effective diameter. Since its diameter is limited by the working barrel in which it slides, the result of the compressive force is to expand the packing into close fitting contact with the working barrel over a relatively long section of the barrel,

and in this way form a very effective clo' sure and seal against passage of sand or grit.

The coil sprlng 9 1s retained in position at its upper end by a fitting 10, which is fixed to the tube 3. This fitting includes a seat at its upper end for a ball valve 12 retained within the cage 11; and an operating rod for the piston (not shown) may be secured to a threaded extension at the upper end of the cage.

In operation as the piston is raised within the working barrel, oil or other fluid will rise therein, and as the piston moves clownwardly the fluid will pass the valve 12, and flood the tubing as far down as the packing 7, where sand or gritty substances entrained with the oil will be stopped by the packing 7, and thereby prevented from reaching the cups 1.

It may also be found desirable to arrange a packing element 7, below the cups 2, and such an arrangement is illustrated in Fig. 3., with the movable abutment 8, beneath, and the fixed abutment 5, above the packing. The remaining details of this modified construction are the same as already described in connection with Fig. 1. It is obvious also that packing elements of this construction can be arranged both above and below the cups on the same piston, and other changes within the range of mechanical equivalents may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of my invention which is claimed as follows:

I claim:

1. In a valved piston comprising a central tube supporting intermediate its ends a series of cup-like piston elements, and a valve at one end only of the tube, a sleeve of fibrous packing surrounding the tub-e adjacent the piston elements, the said sleeve being held against a fixed abutment at one end, and a sliding abutment at the opposite end which is guided by the central tube and yielding means efieetive at all times to move the sliding abutment toward the fixed abutment to compress the packing sleeve whereby its effective diameter is increased substantially throughout its length.

2. In a valved piston comprising a central tube supporting intermediate its ends a series of cup-like piston elements, and a valve at one end only of the tube, a sleeve of fibrous packing surrounding the tube adjacent the piston elements, a fixed abutment for the sleeve at one end and a sliding abutment for the sleeve at the opposite end, both said abutments having cup-like depressions in their ends to receive and hold the ends of the packing sleeve, a coiled compression spring surrounding the tube and supported thereon to exert its force against the sliding abutment to compress the packing sleeve and thereby increase its efiective diameter.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

VICTOR J. WATERS. 

